Camembert de Normandie

Althought it’s hard to blame it, my camera ate all of my Camembert de Normandie (pictures), which I discovered when I went to download them. I was miffed (to say the least…), but in the end, decided that it was tough to blame my mischievous machine because I understand how hard it is to be around a perfectly ripe Camembert de Normandie and not want to wolf the whole thing down. As they would say in Paris when presented with an irresistible cheese — C’est un catastrophe, a demi-joke referring to the devastating effect it has on la ligne. (One’s figure.)

Like the genie in the bottle, once you let a soon-to-be goopy camembert out of its container, no matter how firm you think it’s gonna remain, there’s no turning back once it starts doing what comes naturally. And if you are able to resist eating the whole runny thing in one go, in France, you can get a little plastic box to store your camembert in, with little hinged plastic “walls” to keep your camembert from running. (Even though plastic isn’t the best thing to store your cheeses in; most fromageries wrap cheeses in waxed paper sheets.) I don’t buy a lot of Camembert de Normandie because it’s hard to stop eating it. But for the sake of you all, I went and bought another one, just because I like living dangerously. And what’s another catastrophe between friends?

Camembert de Normandie was allegedly invented by Marie Harel in 1791. Yet French author Pierre Boisard wrote a book, Camembert: A National Myth, which disputes the story. You can read the first chapter of the book here (downloadable PDF), which delves into the subject further. But there’s no dispute that Normandy is known for its outstanding cheeses, which include Livarot, Pont-l’Évêque, and the heart-shaped Neufchâtel.

Like Brie de Meaux, made not far from Paris, lower Normandy’s proximity to Paris helped the success of the cheese. (You can drive to lower Normandy from Paris is a little over an hour.) And like Brie de Meaux and Mont d’Or, true Camembert de Normandie is made from raw milk (lait cru), and only from raw milk. And will say so on the label. Another notation will likely be moulé à la louche or ladled by hand into the molds.

In spite of how unbelievably amazing this cheese is, the last “real” Camembert de Normandie has been threatening to go out of business in their battle against the large industrial cheesemakers, that favor pasteurized milk, whose labels don’t depict dewy milkmaids ladling milk into cheese molds. Like Brie de Meaux, and the previously mentioned Mont d’Or, any raw milk cheese that’s been aged less than 60 days can’t be imported into the United States. (Parmigiano Reggiano and Comté are raw milk cheeses, but have been aged enough to be imported.) And that leaves out true Camembert de Normandie as well.

However when I was on book tour last spring, at the wonderful Pasta Shop in Berkeley, to keep my energy going, they gave me tastes of various cheeses they had, and a British camembert had almost the exact same flavor as its raw milk French counterparts. So if you live in the Bay Area, stop in and grab a wheel, because it’s quite good. (Curiously, fromages.com carries and ships French raw milk camembert, the website noting that for camemberts imported to the United States, the aging is extended to over 60 days.)

But really, the best thing to do is to come to France and grab one yourself. Even at les supermarchés, which aren’t exactly bastions of artisan foods, you can find raw milk camemberts in the dairy case. In France, a wheel of raw milk camembert will run you between €4-€6 ($5-$7.50). So if you eat as much cheese as you can in one week, the savings will pay your airfare. Although I generally prefer to buy cheese from the people at my market, when I was at the grocery store, I saw this Jort Camembert de Normandie, which a Norman friend tells me is the best of the brands. So this funky, fragrant little disk went home with me. If you buy a camembert at a cheese shop or outdoor market in France, where I recommend shopping for cheese, they will ask you when you plan to eat it, and will usually remove the top of the container and take a look at – and feel – several, in order to find the one that’s just right for you. Don’t rush this decision.

My camera didn’t get any, but the perfect accompaniment to a good Camembert de Normandie is an equally good baguette. This baguette with toasted grains is from Gana, one of the many bread shops that are on every street in Paris. In France, you don’t find cheeses served with jams, nuts, or dried fruits, except for special occasions or when dining in fancy restaurants. However a good, or great, Camembert de Normandie doesn’t need anything else, and my preference is just to let the cheese sit at room temperature for a while, until it gets soft and runny, then smear it on rounds of crisp-crusted baguette. Yes, it’s a cata (the diminutive of catastrophe) — but what a way to go…

60 comments

I like your recommendation on eating enough cheese and to let the savings pay for the airfare to France, David. Really good advice. Love the first photo. Seriously, who can resist that ooey, gooey cheese.

That’s a good question. The general rule of thumb with eating rinds of cheese, is that you can eat it, as long as it’s not going to negatively affect the flavor of the cheese. (Particularly true of those cheese with lots of green “bloom” on them.) I eat the rinds of both those cheese you mentioned, but I’ve seen French people do both; some eat it all, and others scrape it away. There are a certain amount of people in France that don’t love strong flavors (and sometimes the exterior is slightly ammoniated, although the cheese inside is just fine) – so it’s to each their own! : )

That reminds me of the pictures of the apple pie I posted on my blog last week. Went I was putting the post together, I realized I didn’t have pictures of the slices themselves… sadly, I have witnesses who say my hunger was the one to blame…

Bebe

November 11, 2014 5:54pm

Mmmmmmm.

Perfect Camembert.

I am amazed at those who eat Brie without taking time to let it ripen a bit. We used to put ours on top of the fridge for at least a few days.

I am also amazed at those who glop up a whole brie with cranberry sauce at holiday time and bake it. The cheese doesn’t magically ripen in the oven and the cranberries kill its flavor anyway.

That baguette looks fabulous. Have never seen one like that…

Anna

November 11, 2014 6:12pm

What a coincidence! I spotted a raw milk Camembert in the local Metro here in Berlin yesterday, quite by chance, and I just had to buy it. Thanks for providing some context to my indulgence.

Karin

November 11, 2014 6:34pm

I am so tempted to buy from fromages.com but wondering do the cheeses really come from France?

….and paying $55 or 2 cheeses…not sure if I am that desperate….checking on Wholefoods or Central Market today….

Bonjour David. Wave of homesickness oncoming… Normandy has never seemed so far away. To think I used to drive to the coast at least twice a month during my Paris years… Bon appétit ! — Veronique (French Girl in Seattle)

Diane

November 11, 2014 6:46pm

When I lived with a French family more than 40 years ago, i learned a trick for storing runny camembert wheels. After making the pie shaped cut into the cheese, replace in the wooden box and set on its edge in the cupboard. The cheese will natirally rest with the exposed interiot upright and won’t rin. This works until the cheese is gone. As long as you continue to make those pie shaped cuts!

Gina

November 11, 2014 6:59pm

Diane is right: I also stand mine on edge to allow the cheese to get back inside the crust.

Linda Hanselman

November 11, 2014 7:00pm

I can’t tell you the last time I had a good Camembert. Oh yes I can, Paris 2012!! Thank you for posting the link to to fromages.com. I plan on checking it out.

Yes these cheese are very fat and calorie laden however as with everything else, moderation! We eat lots of soups in the fall and winter here and a delicious little bit of cheese never hurt anyone.

Karin and Linda: I’ve only had cheeses from fromages.com once. Someone sent me a gift basket when I was living in the states, and I wasn’t hope to accept it. Not knowing it was cheese, I waiting a day or so before heading over to UPS and when I got there, they handed me a very (very) stinky box, happy that I was taking it out of their warehouse! The cheeses were quite good although it’s nice if you have a local cheese shop where you can sniff or taste before you buy. But my one experience with fromages.com was positive.

nonie

November 11, 2014 7:14pm

Oh help. Not fair. Just when I was trying to hold on the calorie intake a couple of weeks longer ’til the holidays. Agree with Michelle and Ksenia. Every cell in my body wants to run to Murray’s right now. I may be in NY, but could pretend to be in Normandie?

Jon Johnsen

November 11, 2014 7:16pm

Can you compare the cheeses from Rouge et Noir, near Petaluma, California, and the French cheeses which inspired them?

The former owners sponsored our Boy Scout Troop back in the early 1960s, and I spent many days in the hills behind the “Cheese Factory” (and wandering through the equipment and aging rooms when it was closed! )

Thanks for another lovely post David. I au-paired in Lille about 30 years ago; Madame Grand Mère taught me how to judge a ripe Camembert by tapping the top of it, and then tapping my eyelid; they should feel the same … always works. And M Grand Père taught me to always have good unsalted butter on my bread, and then my cheese :)

In my experience Brie has to be aged and runny, or it’s tasteless, but Camembert is nice either way, although it can, it has to be said, be a little ammonia-ish if it’s too, too ripe.

When I lived in France someone told me the secret of buying cheese in the supermarket is to buy the one with the nearest “sell-by” date, which is likely to be the ripest. And, of course, French people think nothing of removing the cheese from the box and pressing it gently to see how ripe it is.

Which reminds me, I have some rather nice (although not raw milk) Camembert in the fridge, and it is still nearly two hours until supper time….

Nicole

November 11, 2014 9:50pm

Oh mon Dieu! I think I’ll go out right this minute to get one from our Fromagerie Store here. I am in Montréal, Canada where it is possible to easily get the same. And no problem with raw milk here!

Kari Vaisanen

November 11, 2014 9:52pm

Having lived on and off in Normandy for several years I fully share your opinions. You also mention Livarot. I always used to joke about that little cheese-laden village – you can never get lost on your way to Livarot. Just follow your nose…

melinda

November 11, 2014 10:56pm

first thing I buy when I get to France….I even have it for breakfast…..my desert island pick…..there is no place near me to get good raw milk cheese here in western NC, sniff

Have you noticed your camera is getting a little heavier? Perhaps just a bit chunkier around its middle?? I can see why you would have to share with the poor fellow. Staring at running cheese without taking a taste is just pure toruture!! I’m salivating just looking at the pictures so I can imagine what it was like for him up and close.

Kate

November 11, 2014 11:00pm

It was love at first bite: Tasting gooey Camembert de Normandy on a fresh baguette at a picnic in a sunny day in Paris. Merci, David! Your delightfully delicious post has reminded me that 15+ years later, Camembert is still one of the first cheeses I look for at a cheese shop, at my city or wherever I am in the world.

Nicolette

November 12, 2014 12:36am

Ooh, the three essential food groups: a crusty baguette, oozing fromage, and a bottle of wine! What more could one ask out of life?!

Mary

November 12, 2014 12:54am

In February 1973 as part of a college class in Besancon a couple of other students and I went on a frigid 3-day archaeological dig out in a field where a farmer had found some bones.

One night at dinner we were served a camembert that was really runny, just like the picture. I will never forget what the archaeologist announced in a very serious voice:

“Un bon camembert ne se mange pas – il se boit.”

Wordbird

November 12, 2014 1:08am

It’s all true. I blame the ruination of my figure on Camembert au lait cru. I confess: it was all worth it!

Nina

November 12, 2014 1:58am

I love raw milk Brie and yes, sadly, it’s illegal here in the States. I make raw milk chèvre from my goats’ milk and cannot sell it. My next challenge is to try Brie or Camembert! These photos are exquisite, I wish that cheese was sitting on my table right now!

Raw milk cheese are amazing, although that camembert that I had in Berkeley, at the Pasta Shop was excellent. So you can make good cheeses with pasteurized or thermalized milk. There was the listeria crisis back in the 80s in the US with a cheese that was supposed to be pasteurized, and in France and Switzerland (which now thermalizes their Mont d’Or cheeses), they’ve had problems as well. In France, pregnant women are advised not to eat raw milk cheeses for that reason. But most of them are very safe and although I’m not a medical professional, any food product – raw or pasteurized – can be dangerous if handled incorrectly.

Bonjour David, as you said a good product does not need anything else … Having said that, camembert blends well with truffle cream, with some sweet and sour apple compote and with good gingerbread (if your camembert is not perfect, it will be enhanced). I sometimes, make gingerbread croutons (with oil, butter and a drizzle of sugar), grind them, deep the camembert in beaten eggs then gingerbread powder ( like pain perdu, French toast) and bake it.

With some mesclun, a salad dressing with calvados, it makes a wonderful starter … PS : I think you can switch to pears as well.

To make fun when I go to the cheesemonger, I often ask my camembert for 8.32 PM and they jokingly answer they have found one for 8.34….

Gavrielle

November 12, 2014 8:38am

Stunning pictures. But four to six euros? Whimper! Our artisan cheeses in New Zealand are excellent, but they’re mostly around 30 euros/kilo. Goat cheeses, because of their scarcity (most caome from tiny little herds) can easily top 60 euros/kilo

I was talking to a baker, about the incredibly low-prices they charge for baguettes and croissants (the average profit on a €1 baguette for a bakery is only 30 cents) – and he said it was because if they charged more, people would go elsewhere. I think it’s the same with cheese in France; there are so many available, prices stay at what we would consider in the “reasonable” range. But if you ask French people, they would say that a lot of cheeses are expensive (to them.) And even I was shocked one day when a went to a different bakery than usual and the baguette was a whopping €1,40. There are still some bargains in Paris! : )

Last September while visiting Normandy, we stopped for a beer and cheese. The camembert we had was cut into 1/4 inch wide slices, floated in cream in a small skillet, and quickly broiled until quite warm to browning. Served with toasted baguette slices of course. Sitting on their patio on a sunny but brisk afternoon, overlooking the Channel, with good beer and great cheese. Nice day.

that top photo of the cheese coming out everywhere just, like, shattered my evening’s contentment. i will never be happy again until i am eating that cheese.

Emily Rader

November 16, 2014 12:35am

The camembert pictured here looks wonderful. Wish I could get some! When I lived in Paris I used to buy Le Petit camembert, and I loved it. Here in Berkeley I now buy Fermier camembert (at The Cheese Board or Andronico’s), which is imported from Rambouillet, France, and it’s so delicious and flavorful that I can’t even tell it’s not pasteurized!

LWood

November 16, 2014 8:03am

While I would prefer a trip to Paris to save $$ on on my cheese budget, last year I was very happy to find a raw milk alternative to Mont d’or called Rush Creek Reserve (from Uplands cheese in WI). It’s available this time of year in the U.S. but it is an investment.

Since posting my comment, we have booked ourselves a short break in Normandy in a couple of weeks’ time – can’t wait!

Vanessa

November 17, 2014 6:15pm

Hi david, really hope you’ll answer my question! or is anyone is able to, please feel free to comment as well :) I made baked Camembert with Margaret Rivers (Australian) cheese and it melted easily into a gooey tasty mess. However, when I gave it a go with President Camembert cheese, it refused to melt and instead turned into a semi-sticky-rubbery cheese that tasted like tofu. Same type of cheese – different results. Can anyone guess as to why the results were different? Same cooking time and temperature.

President cheese is a cheese that’s industrially made, and won’t behave (ie: melt) like a real camembert. If you taste one alongside an artisanal cheese, you’ll notice the difference as well. I don’t know what Margaret Rivers cheese is, but a camembert (like the one shown) will melt beautifully. Even without heat! : )

Because the USDA doesn’t allow raw milk cheeses to be imported into the United States that are aged less than 60 days, Camembert du Normandie is generally not available. Murray’s in New York has one, which is pasteurized, and fromages.com, which I linked to, has a camembert they say is aged longer, for shipping. Best to go into a shop in New York, like Murray’s (or Bedford Cheese, in Brooklyn) and ask – and sniff!

Anne

November 20, 2014 12:27am

This makes me want to hop a plane to Paris right now. Ugh, love me some stinky cheese!